Nine riot police officers have sued coast guard officers assigned at Piraeus Port earlier this week after suffering injuries in an attack in the early hours of Tuesday by a gang of hooligans who thought they were fans of a rival team.

The Greek Police said that a squad of 28 riot officers were returning to Athens from Crete, where they had been dispatched to guard the Greek Basketball Cup final on Sunday night between Athens's Panathinaikos and Thessaloniki club Aris. They were not in uniform as they were off duty. When disembarking at Piraeus in the early hours of Tuesday, the riot officers said they were attacked by a group of some 80 to 100 hooligans believed to belong to Piraeus club Olympiakos, which has a long-standing rivalry with Panathinaikos.

Investigators believe that the gang of hooligans had mistaken the officers for Panathinaikos fans returning from the game.

Clashes between fans of the two teams are frequent and have led to casualties.

Nine officers were injured in the attack, in which the assailants used wooden clubs, screwdrivers and other makeshift weapons. They said that coast guard officers on the scene did nothing to thwart the assault and had failed to inform police that the hooligans were gathered at the port.

The Coast Guard, meanwhile responded to the accusations by saying that the Greek Police had not informed it that a squad of riot officers was arriving on the morning ferry from Crete.